


(Wo)man's Best Friend

by deadhuntress



Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dog adoption, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-01
Updated: 2016-06-01
Packaged: 2018-07-11 11:06:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7046920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deadhuntress/pseuds/deadhuntress
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the prompt: I asked a staff member and they said you've been coming to the pound every day to play with the dog I'm taking home today and that's why you're getting weirdly emotional.</p><p>Leslie adopts the dog that Ben had been coming to the shelter to visit and they begin meeting at the dog park so that Ben can still play with Cooper. Soon, though, what began as friendship turns into something more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	(Wo)man's Best Friend

“Are you sure about this?” the woman behind the counter asked.

“Of course,” Leslie said, smiling. She’d been wanting a dog for a while now (her whole life, really) and today was finally the day. She came to the shelter in the morning to finalize the adoption and take home the dog she’d fallen in love with a week earlier: Cooper, a two-year-old brindle colored boxer mix. He was a stray found wandering around Ramsett Park, thin and hungry, and was brought to the shelter, where he was nursed back to health and where Leslie found him. She loved him the moment she saw him and, after playing with him for a while, happily discovered his playful energy and fondness for belly rubs. After waiting restlessly all week, she was very eager to take him home.

“Okay,” the other woman said, finishing the last line of paperwork. “He’s all yours now!”

Leslie grinned, reaching down to scratch Cooper’s head as he sat beside her. As she stood up and thanked the woman, she noticed a dark-haired man off to the side, watching them. He had a strange look on his face, like a mixture between happiness and envy, but turned away, blushing, when he noticed her gaze.

“Do you know that guy?” she asked the worker, gesturing with her head.

“Him?” the woman replied. “Not really, but he seems like a nice guy. He’s been in here a few times this week. Looking at Cooper, actually.”

“Oh,” Leslie said. She wondered if she should go talk to the guy. He certainly looked nice enough. Cute too, she noted. Before she could decide, though, he turned and walked down the hall to the front door of the shelter. _Or not_ , she thought.

She turned back to the woman at the desk, thanked her again, and walked down the same hallway to the door with Cooper excitedly sniffing everything they passed.

When she got outside, she was surprised to see the man still there, like he was waiting. He saw her and walked toward her, and Leslie wondered if she should be careful just in case.

“Hi,” the guy said, awkwardly and nervously. “Um, this is really weird, but I’ve actually been coming here to visit and play with your dog and, well – Could I maybe just say good-bye to him? I mean, I know he’s yours now, but he’s a wonderful dog and I just, um…”

“Sure,” Leslie said, smiling at him. “Go ahead.”

The man knelt down and scratched Cooper on both sides of the neck as Cooper eagerly licked his face. “Such a good boy,” he said softly. “Be good, okay? You’re going to have a home now.” He gave Cooper one last head scratch then stood again.

“He’s a great dog,” he told Leslie. “You’ll love him.”

“Yes,” Leslie replied, affection evident in her voice. “I already do.”

“Well,” he said after a few seconds. “Uh, thank you. For, you know.”

“Of course,” Leslie answered. She thought it was very sweet. She could tell Cooper liked this man as well. He turned away to leave, but Leslie found herself calling, “Wait!”

He stopped and looked at her questioningly.

“I can see how much you like Cooper,” she said. “How would you like to come to the dog park with us sometime? Thursday afternoon, maybe? Like four o’clock?”

He broke into a smile. “Really? That would be fantastic. I’d love that!”

Leslie smiled back at him. “Great!” she said. “My name’s Leslie, by the way. Leslie Knope.” She stuck her hand out to shake his.

He grasped it and replied, “Ben Wyatt.”

“Okay, well, see you Thursday.”

“Yep!”

Leslie could tell he was smiling as he walked away.

\---

On Thursday, Leslie arrived at the dog park early, before Ben got there. She sat on a bench under a tall oak tree to wait, noticing what a nice day it was: hot but with a cool enough breeze that it wasn’t uncomfortable. Cooper noticed Ben coming before she did, suddenly standing up and barking excitedly.

“Hey,” Ben said, smiling at them both.

“Hey,” she replied, watching Cooper shower Ben with kisses. “Wanna play fetch?” she continued, pulling a yellow Frisbee out of her bag.

Ben unclipped Cooper’s leash and then Leslie deftly threw the Frisbee across the grass. Cooper raced after it excitedly as Leslie and Ben laughed. He quickly brought it back, tail wagging like crazy. This time it was Ben who threw the Frisbee, and Cooper ran after it again.

Leslie and Ben spent the next twenty minutes taking turns throwing the Frisbee for Cooper to bring back to them. “He has endless energy, doesn’t he,” Ben remarked at one point.

“Yeah, he does,” Leslie laughed.

When they tired of the Frisbee, they decided to just take a walk around the park. With Cooper clipped on to his leash, they set off. They talked as they walked, and Leslie learned a lot about Ben. He told her that he was from Partridge, Minnesota originally, but left for college and didn’t go back. He didn’t have the best home life and never felt like he belonged anywhere. After college, he got a job working for a nonprofit in Indiana. Since then, he’d been traveling around Indiana as a financial advisor for various nonprofits and had just been transferred to Pawnee a month before.

Leslie in turn told Ben about living in Pawnee her whole life and how she’d always known what she wanted to do. He was very interested in her job as deputy director of the Parks department, and smiled warmly at her as she described a recent addition to Harvey James Park that she’d carried out. A few times Leslie thought she caught him looking at her with a look of admiration, but she couldn’t be sure.

Too soon, though, it was time to leave. “Do you want to do this again next week?” Leslie asked Ben.

“Sure,” he replied brightly. “Same place, same time?”

“Yep!” she answered.

“Okay,” Ben said. He knelt down to say goodbye to Cooper, then stood, said goodbye to Leslie, and left.

\---

It wasn’t long before meeting Ben at the dog park on Thursdays was a regular, established routine of Leslie’s. In fact, they enjoyed it so much that they started meeting there on Saturday mornings as well. Leslie was really starting to care for Ben and was glad to count him as one of her friends. In fact, she had started entertaining the possibility of them becoming more than friends, and she wondered if he was thinking along the same lines. She had told Ann about Ben and their friendship, but it hadn’t ever been brought up at work, so none of her other friends were even aware of his existence.

One particular Saturday, that all changed. Ben and Leslie were taking their routine walk around the park with Cooper when they heard someone shout Leslie’s name.

They turned and saw Andy bounding toward them to say hello, with April and Champion trailing behind him.

“Leslie!” Andy exclaimed. “It’s so cool to see you here!” He knelt down to say hi to Cooper, who barked in excitement.

“Andy, hey!” Leslie replied. “I didn’t know you liked to bring Champion here.”

“We usually take walks through the cemeteries and look for weird names,” April replied, coming up behind Andy.

Ben turned quickly toward Leslie, looking confused and unsure if April was being serious.

“She’s joking,” Leslie reassured him.

“No I’m not,” April countered, giving Ben her trademark serious stare that made it impossible to tell.

“She’s totally not,” Andy added from his position on the ground.

“Okay, well.” Leslie shrugged. “Oh, um, Andy, April. This is Ben. Ben, this is April and Andy, they-”

“Is Ben your boyfriend?” April interrupted.

“What? No!” Leslie answered. She was aware of Ben shifting awkwardly next to her.

“What’s his job?” April continued. “Cult worshipper? Llama herder? Robot?”

“No, I work with nonprofits,” Ben responded slowly, seemingly even more confused.

“Robot,” April said, nodding.

“Dude, you’re a robot?!” Andy exclaimed. “That’s awesome!”

“No…” Ben said again, but thankfully they were interrupted by Leslie.

“Guys!” she said loudly. “Ben is not a robot, or a llama herder or whatever. He’s a financial advisor for a local nonprofit.”

“No offense, dude, but that sounds kinda boring,” Andy said. He stood and brushed his hands on his pants. “Robot would be way cooler.”

“Ben’s job is fine,” Leslie said, but Andy just shrugged.

“So how’d you meet your boyfriend?” April asked, apparently intending to make this encounter as hard for Leslie as possible.

“He’s not my boyfriend!” Leslie exclaimed quickly. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “We met at the animal shelter. He’d been looking at Cooper too. He introduced himself and seemed to care for Cooper, so I invited him to come to the park with us.”

“Aw, that’s sweet, isn’t it, babe?” Andy replied.

“It’s gross,” April replied, wrinkling her nose. “Let’s leave in case the grossness is contagious.” She grabbed Champion’s leash and started to walk away. “Bye,” she called over her shoulder.

“Wait up, babe!” Andy shouted. He ran to catch up, laughing. “Bye Leslie! Bye Ben!” he called as he left.

“Um, what just happened?” Ben asked, clearly still confused.

Leslie started walking again and gestured for him to follow. “That was Andy and April,” she said as they continue on. “They met at the Parks department and got married about a month after they started dating.”

“Oh,” Ben said, eyes wide.

“Yeah, I know. But they really are perfect for each other. Oh, and I’m sorry April kept asking if you were my boyfriend. She likes making people uncomfortable.”

“Yeah, I noticed,” Ben said. “It’s fine.” He looked like he was about to say something else but didn’t.

At this point they had almost reached their cars, so they walked in silence for the rest of the way. When they got there, Leslie stashed the Frisbee in the trunk and turned back to Ben.

“See you on Thursday?” she asked.

“Yep. As always,” he replied and smiled.

\---

About a month after they started their weekly meetings at the dog park, Leslie was called out of town last minute.

“My mom is getting an award in Indianapolis, and she didn’t tell me until yesterday,” she told Ben apologetically. “We’re supposed to be there all weekend. Is there any way you could dog-sit Cooper? I mean, I could drop him off at your house and he could stay there, or you could come stay at my place. Either’s fine.” She paused to give him time to answer.

Ben didn’t hesitate. “Of course I’ll watch him for you,” he said. “Um, I’m in an apartment right now, though, so I can’t keep him here.”

“Okay,” Leslie said. “You can just stay at my place. Thank you so much! It means a lot to me.”

“No problem,” Ben said, and even over the phone she could tell he was smiling.

They made arrangements for Ben to come over, see the house, and get a key, and Leslie hung up the phone, relieved. She immediately picked it back up though to call Ann.

When Ann picked up the phone, Leslie immediately told her what had just happened.

“Wow, Leslie,” Ann replied once she could get a word in. “You just invited the guy you like to stay at your house and dog-sit? Are you finally gonna ask him out now?”

“I don’t know, Ann, what should I do?” Leslie pleaded.

“I think you should go for it,” Ann replied. “I mean, if he’s willing to do this for you, he must care about you. There’s no harm in asking.”

“You’re right,” Leslie said. When she and Ann hung up, she decided that she would ask him out, but not until after the weekend was over. Just in case.

\---

Leslie didn’t get home until late Sunday night. The next day was a holiday, which normally she would not be excited about (she hated being forced to take a break from work), but after a long weekend away from home, she found herself actually looking forward to the break. She shuddered at the thought as she unlocked her front door and stepped inside the house.

Trying to avoid making any noise, she slipped off her shoes and found her way to the stairs. As she passed through the living room, she saw the sleeping form of Ben on the sofa. Curled up on the floor next to him was Cooper, and even in the dim light she could see that Ben’s hand was resting on Cooper’s back.

Deciding that she should head upstairs to drop off her bags and then maybe get a glass of water, she turned away and climbed the stairs. She reached her bedroom and quietly pushed the door open, depositing her bag on the floor next to the door. The moon shone through the open curtains in the window, enough for her to navigate around the room. She quickly found a clean pair of pajamas to change into and then headed back down the stairs to the kitchen.

On her way, she paused in the living room to gaze at Ben and Cooper, both sound asleep and breathing lightly. They looked very peaceful, and Leslie stood watching for a minute, not wanting to disturb them. Truthfully, she had imagined a few times (or many times, really) what it would be like to date Ben and have him stay over, sleep in her bed, make breakfast in the morning, and to see such a similar scene before her only made her want it more. In that moment she decided that no matter what, tomorrow she would ask Ben out on an official date, though for now she planned on going back upstairs to get as much sleep as she could.

Leslie crossed the room to get to the kitchen, but on her way she accidentally stepped on a creaky floorboard. At the high-pitched sound, Cooper awoke and lifted his head. The sudden movement woke Ben and he started to sit up as Cooper hopped up from the floor and came over to greet her, tail starting to wag as he woke up. As Leslie greeted Cooper and he responded excitedly, Ben seemed to remember where he was.

“Leslie, you’re home,” he said, voice thick with sleep. “Cooper seemed lonely tonight and when I tried to go to bed, he came and sat by me with big eyes, whining softly, so I was petting him ‘til he fell asleep,” he explained.

Leslie laughed quietly. “I’m glad you care so much about him,” she said.

“Of course I do,” Ben replied. “So, uh… do you want me to leave now?” he asked, suddenly looking unsure of himself.

“What?” Leslie exclaimed, confused. “No, of course not! I was just getting a glass of water. Go back to sleep; sorry I woke you up.”

“Are you sure?” he responded.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” she said as she made her way to the kitchen entrance. “Good night, Ben,” she said before she walked through.

“Good night, Leslie,” she heard as she plucked a glass from the clean dishwasher. Once she’d gotten her water, she headed back upstairs, but it was a while before she managed to fall asleep, her brain replaying the scene over and over again as she imagined what it would be like if Ben were a more permanent fixture in the house…

\---

The next morning, Leslie awoke to the smell of fresh coffee and hot waffles. She blinked her eyes open as her brain tried to work out what was going on. Before she could get up, and find out what was happening, a steaming mug was placed on the nightstand beside her, followed by a plate of waffles and plenty of whipped cream.

She looked up as Ben greeted her with a cheerful, if somewhat shy, “Good morning!” as she stared. “I went out and picked up some waffles from JJ’s,” he continued. “You seemed really tired and –”

Before he could get another word out, Leslie was on her feet and kissing him with all her might. At first he made a sound of surprise, but soon got into it, hand reaching up to settle in her hair.

“Any particular reason for that?” he asked when Leslie pulled back.

“You brought me waffles!” Leslie exclaimed. Ben looked at her in interest but didn’t say anything. “And, um,” she continued, “I was gonna ask you on a date anyway…”

Before she could finish, Ben closed the distance between them for the second time, the kiss even more intense than the first. “I take it that’s a yes?” Leslie joked when they separated, foreheads still pressed together.

“It’s a hell yes,” Ben said, smiling and nudging her nose with his.

From the other side of her bedroom, Cooper barked, and Leslie thanked her lucky stars that she’d decided to adopt a dog.

**Author's Note:**

> I should have posted this about a year ago, sorry. Better late than never, I suppose.
> 
> Come find me on Tumblr at [thetideseternaltune](http://thetideseternaltune.tumblr.com/) (main blog) or [hunterangelkisses](http://hunterangelkisses.tumblr.com/) (SPN sideblog)!


End file.
